Ypsilanti Township

Ruling appealed: Attorneys for General Motors Corp. filed a formal appeal to a state court decision forcing the automaker to keep its Willow Run assembly plant open. GM spokeswoman Janine Fruehan had no further information on the appeal, which asks the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn Circuit Judge Donald Shelton's decision barring GM from moving production from the Ypsilanti Township plant to a similar site in Arlington, Texas. Ypsilanti Township sued GM,...

Agreement: General Motors Corp. said it reached an agreement with Ypsilanti Township in Michigan to end a 15-month legal battle over the automaker's decision to close a car plant there last year. Under the agreement, GM will invest $80 million in a nearby powertrain plant and attempt to sell the idled Willow Run plant, which once employed more than 4,000 workers. The township contended GM's acceptance of $13 million of tax breaks constituted a promise to keep the plant open.

Try it again: General Motors Corp. and Ypsilanti Township, Mich., were ordered back to the negotiating table to try to reach a settlement on the fate of the automaker's Willow Run assembly plant. After both sides presented closing arguments in a packed Washtenaw County courtroom, Circuit Judge Donald Shelton ordered them to hold a settlement conference-calling it "one last effort to get these parties to resolve the issue themselves." Otherwise, Shelton said he would...

A Michigan appeals court panel Wednesday cleared the way for General Motors Corp. to close its 4,500-employee Willow Run plant, a blow to community efforts to keep the historic auto factory alive. The 3-0 ruling said GM never promised to keep the plant operating indefinitely, even though it benefited from $13.5 million in tax abatements granted by local officials in Ypsilanti Township. GM announced Dec. 18, 1991, that it was closing the Willow Run plant and...

Brakes applied: A judge has stopped General Motors Corp. from giving up tax breaks on its Willow Run Assembly plant. The ruling in Washtenaw County Circuit Court may have averted an attempt by GM to weaken a lawsuit trying to force the automaker to keep the plant open, officials in Ypsilanti Township, Mich., said. The Willow Run plant is one of 21 plants GM says it will close in an attempt to cut 74,000 jobs by 1995. Ypsilanti Township and Washtenaw County sued GM,...

A lonely midday hush filled the City Diner, and waitress Susan Sizemore unhappily predicted it would not go away. "Business went from pretty good to nothing," she said with a ripple of deep regret in her voice. "People are not coming. They can't afford it." The people who once kept the small diner hopping worked just up the road at General Motors' Willow Run assembly plant. The massive silver and white auto plant is slumbering in the warm sunshine, closed for GM's companywide...

Agreement: General Motors Corp. said it reached an agreement with Ypsilanti Township in Michigan to end a 15-month legal battle over the automaker's decision to close a car plant there last year. Under the agreement, GM will invest $80 million in a nearby powertrain plant and attempt to sell the idled Willow Run plant, which once employed more than 4,000 workers. The township contended GM's acceptance of $13 million of tax breaks constituted a promise to keep the plant open.

General Motors Corp. said Friday it has no intention of keeping its Willow Run assembly plant open past mid-July unless it loses a court appeal or the appeal hearing is delayed. The automaker is starting to calculate its losses if it is forced to remain open, a GM spokesman said. But a United Auto Workers union official has said he is confident the plant will stay open at least a year past the scheduled July 16 closing: "GM has not told me officially it's going...

Auto report: A fight over shutdown of a General Motors Corp. plant in Michigan has delayed movement of workers and production to the company's Arlington, Texas, facility. Ypsilanti Township, Mich., filed a lawsuit against GM over closing of the Willow Run assembly plant. The township contends the automaker failed to live up to promises it made in return for $13.5 million worth of tax breaks during the last 12 years. . . . Mercedes-Benz AG said it was reducing its work...

Ruling appealed: Attorneys for General Motors Corp. filed a formal appeal to a state court decision forcing the automaker to keep its Willow Run assembly plant open. GM spokeswoman Janine Fruehan had no further information on the appeal, which asks the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn Circuit Judge Donald Shelton's decision barring GM from moving production from the Ypsilanti Township plant to a similar site in Arlington, Texas. Ypsilanti Township sued GM,...

A Michigan appeals court panel Wednesday cleared the way for General Motors Corp. to close its 4,500-employee Willow Run plant, a blow to community efforts to keep the historic auto factory alive. The 3-0 ruling said GM never promised to keep the plant operating indefinitely, even though it benefited from $13.5 million in tax abatements granted by local officials in Ypsilanti Township. GM announced Dec. 18, 1991, that it was closing the Willow Run plant and...

Try it again: General Motors Corp. and Ypsilanti Township, Mich., were ordered back to the negotiating table to try to reach a settlement on the fate of the automaker's Willow Run assembly plant. After both sides presented closing arguments in a packed Washtenaw County courtroom, Circuit Judge Donald Shelton ordered them to hold a settlement conference-calling it "one last effort to get these parties to resolve the issue themselves." Otherwise, Shelton said he would...

General Motors Corp. said Friday it has no intention of keeping its Willow Run assembly plant open past mid-July unless it loses a court appeal or the appeal hearing is delayed. The automaker is starting to calculate its losses if it is forced to remain open, a GM spokesman said. But a United Auto Workers union official has said he is confident the plant will stay open at least a year past the scheduled July 16 closing: "GM has not told me officially it's going...

Brakes applied: A judge has stopped General Motors Corp. from giving up tax breaks on its Willow Run Assembly plant. The ruling in Washtenaw County Circuit Court may have averted an attempt by GM to weaken a lawsuit trying to force the automaker to keep the plant open, officials in Ypsilanti Township, Mich., said. The Willow Run plant is one of 21 plants GM says it will close in an attempt to cut 74,000 jobs by 1995. Ypsilanti Township and Washtenaw County sued GM,...

A lonely midday hush filled the City Diner, and waitress Susan Sizemore unhappily predicted it would not go away. "Business went from pretty good to nothing," she said with a ripple of deep regret in her voice. "People are not coming. They can't afford it." The people who once kept the small diner hopping worked just up the road at General Motors' Willow Run assembly plant. The massive silver and white auto plant is slumbering in the warm sunshine, closed for GM's companywide...

Auto report: A fight over shutdown of a General Motors Corp. plant in Michigan has delayed movement of workers and production to the company's Arlington, Texas, facility. Ypsilanti Township, Mich., filed a lawsuit against GM over closing of the Willow Run assembly plant. The township contends the automaker failed to live up to promises it made in return for $13.5 million worth of tax breaks during the last 12 years. . . . Mercedes-Benz AG said it was reducing its work...

Court says no: The Michigan Supreme Court rejected General Motors Corp.'s request that its legal fight to close the Willow Run plant skip the state appeals court. The top automaker says it will lose millions of dollars if it is forced to keep the plant in Washtenaw County's Ypsilanti Township open longer than it planned. Ypsilanti Township contended that a 12-year, $75 million tax abatement it signed with the company in 1988 prevented GM from closing the plant before...

A maybe: General Motors Corp. is considering reopening its Willow Run assembly plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., to expand production for its Saturn car division, a published report said. The plant is one of several locations being considered for a second Saturn assembly plant, Saturn officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Detroit Free Press. The Willow Run plant in Washtenaw County's Ypsilanti Township closed last year when its production was shifted to a...